Syrian Conflict

Events

Pro-democracy Protests

Nationwide Protests

US Involvement

President Obama called on Assad to resign and ordered Syrian government's assets frozen

Damascus Bombing

July 2012

bombing at Syrian national security building during a high-level government crisis meeting

Summer 2012

Jul 1, 2012

fighting spreads to Aleppo (largest city in Syria and its former commercial capital)

UN Arab League

August 2012

Kofi Annan quits UN Arab League envoy after his attempt to broker a cease-fire failed

Syrian National Coalition

November 2012

created in order to bring together main opposition factions

Recapturing of Qusayr

5 June 2013

Syrian army recaptures town in an assault led by fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah

Chemical Weapons

21 August 2013

US accuses Assad regime of using chemical weapons which killed 1400 people in two rebel-held zones in Damascus

Forming of Islamic Front

September 2013

approximately a dozen rebel groups leave the Syrian National Coalition and reject its call for a civil and democratic government, instead forming their own alliance (i.e. Islamic Front) which was intended to eventually create a state governed by Islamic law

Destruction of CWs

October 2013

Syria destroys its CWs production equipment

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

January 2014

infighting among rebels spreads, pitting a variety of Islamists groups and moderate factions against the al-Qaida-breakaway calling itself Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

UN Peace Talks

February 2014

two rounds of UN led peace talks lead to no solution

Withdrawal from Homs

9 May 2014

rebels withdraw from the old quarter of the central city of Homs in a significant symbolic victory for the government

Resignation of Brahimi

13 May 2014

Brahimi resigns as UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, marking a second failure by the United Nations and Arab League to end the civil war

Seizing by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

June 2014

the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant seizes large parts of northern and western Iraq controlling a third of Syria and Iraq

Control of al-Omar

3 July 2014

Islamic State group takes control of Syria's largest oil field, al-Omar, after fierce battles with the Nusra Front (al-Qaida's branch in Syria)

Appointment of new UN Envoy

10 July 2014

Italian-Swedish diplomat Staffan de Mistura is named new UN envoy to Syria

Beheading of James Foley

19 August 2014

Islamic State militants release video of the beheading of American journalist James Foley, the first of five Westerners to be beheaded by the IS group

Kobani

September 2014

IS begins offensive to take Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani

US Airstrikes

23 September 2014

US-led coalition begins airstrikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria

Airdropping by US

20 October 2014

began airdropping supplies to Syrian Kurdish forces due to Turkish government's refusal to allow supplies to pass through their border int Kobani

Control of Kobani

26 January 2015

with the help of US-led airstrikes, Kurdish fighters take control of Kobani

Capturing of Muath al-Kaseasbeh

3 February 2015

IS releases a video of captured Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh being burned to death in a cage, sparking outrage in Jordan, which launches new strikes targeting the militants